Extremist stayed in New Zealand despite immigration-related fraud

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The Islamic State-inspired extremist who attacked shoppers in a New Zealand supermarket had been fighting deportation for immigration fraud, leaving the nation’s leader expressing frustration at the process.

The new details about the attack Friday in Auckland emerged as the condition of some of those injured in his attack improved.

Three critically injured patients remain in intensive care but are in stable condition, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said Sunday. Police added that the condition of one of the critically injured patients had improved. Bloomfield said a fourth person still hospitalized is in stable condition, while the three others have been released and are recovering at home.

The attacker, Ahamed Samsudeen, 32, arrived in New Zealand 10 years ago on a student visa. A Tamil Muslim, he applied for refugee status on the basis of being persecuted in Sri Lanka, where a civil war ended in 2009 with the defeat of a Tamil rebel group.

Immigration New Zealand declined his application, but he won his appeal, gaining permanent residency in 2014.

Police first noticed Samsudeen’s online support for terrorism in 2016 and by the following year, immigration agents knew he wanted to fly to Syria to join the Islamic State insurgency. They began reviewing his immigration status, fearing he could be a threat.

In 2018, Samsudeen was jailed after he was found with Islamic State videos and knives, and the following year, his refugee status was canceled after authorities found evidence of fraud.